Trifter

THE railways opened up Whitley Bay and the surrounding villages of North Tyneside as a seaside resort area. Factory and shipyard workers and miners from across Tyneside would spend their two weeks annual holiday there. The time when Clydeside shipbuilders came to Whitley was simply known as Glasgow Fortnight. The village of Whitley changed its name in 1902 to avoid confusion with Whitby 70 miles down the coast.

Whitley was never coy about revealing its invigorating climate. Its 1909 guide claimed, “The Sharp bite of the saline waters at Whitley Bay is one of the utmost value in all classes of debility and especially for the jaded businessman.”

Whitley Park Hall, which dates from the 18th Century, became the Park Hotel with its grounds becoming gardens and used for leisure purpose. Charles Elderton and his concert party, the Toreadors gave one show in a setting with wood and canvas backdrops painted to resemble a Spanish City.

This led to the founding of the Whitley Pleasure Gardens Company, who built the Empress Theatre and the dome centrepiece of the Spanish City Amusement Arcade. This complex with its rotunda, 1,4000 seater theatre, roof garden, promenade and the most up to date rides of the time opened in 1910.

Rides of the era included the Figure Eight Railway, which covered half a mile of track and the zig-zag attraction, known as the Social Whirl. There were the Water Chute, the Olde Mill (which had boats going through a tunnel and visiting various scenes, such as a Swiss mountain village, a fairy castle or the Indian Jungle) and the Joy Wheel.

The theatre was to become the Empress Ballroom, able to accommodate 750 dancers on its floor in 1920. The Spanish City still brings in the crowds.

Regeneration of the Spanish City and the seafront area is taking place. However the dome, which is listed, will remain.

However the main attraction of Whitley Bay has always been that long strand of clean golden sand, that stretches north to St Mary’s Island.

St Mary’s Island or Bates’ Island (this name is believed to have come from a former owner, Thomas Bates who was the Surveyor of Northumberland for Queen Elizabeth I).

George Ewan showed enterprise in opening a thatched cottage as a public house, the Freemason’s Arms when he rented the salmon fishing rights in 1855. Human bones were discovered when he was digging out the cellar. It is thought that they were the remains of some luckless Russian sailors who had contracted cholera on a passing ship and been marooned on the island to die and be buried in 1799. One skeleton was kept on display in the cellar as a visitor attraction.

The Ewan Family were evicted from their fishing rights in 1895 and the next tenant turned the pub into a temperance hostel.

St Mary’s Island was originally inhabited by monks who built a chapel, dedicated to St Helen in 1090. This chapel carried a light in its tower to warn mariners of the jagged rocks surrounding the island. A weekly endowment of 5/- (25p) was later paid to monks to keep this light shining.

Trinity House decided to build a lighthouse on the island in 1896 to replace one at Tynemouth Priory, which was frequently obscured by the industrial smoke produced on Tyneside.

It stood 120 feet high, shone a light out to sea for 17 miles and was put into commission on August 31, 1898.  This intense beam was powered by pressurised paraffin, which was stored in the base of the tower. A pump was used to fill five gallon drums, which were then rope-hauled up to the lamp room.

The paraffin and air had to be pressurised every four hours by using a hand pump, while the clockwork motor for the lamp had to be wound up each hour. A weather log was completed every three hours. The keepers would take the lamp apart and clean it each morning. They had to wash the 137 steps and polish the brass handrail every morning.

Keepers and their families had a hard life on the island. Rainwater collected on the flat roofs of the cottages provided the drinking supply. There were earth privies followed by chemical closets until 1954 and a electricity supply was only installed in 1940.

St Mary’s Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1984 and along with the keepers’ cottages have been transformed into visitor centre. Tourists are able to climb the tower for the views of the coast and out to sea, which are relayed to earth bound visitors by video.

The centre, which is open seven days a week from April until October, holds exhibitions on the history of the lighthouse and the wildlife in the neighbouring St Mary’s Nature Reserve. The waters around the island are a favourite diving area with its wealth of marine life and the wrecks of many ships standing on the seabed.